The New Class

Pharrell, Lupita Nyong’o, and 269 More Join the Academy

At last: a club that can find room to include both Jason Statham and Pharrell.

Today the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced a group of 271 artists and executives who have been invited to join their ranks, now able to vote on the annual Oscar nominations and probably frustrate you when inevitably voting for the wrong person. Pharrell, a nominee for last year’s “Happy” for best original song, is indeed now a member, as is Statham, an action star who has never come even remotely close to an Oscar nomination.

On the list are the obvious stars who deserve inclusion—Lupita Nyong’o, Michael Fassbender, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sally Hawkins—as well as a few you might have assumed were already in the club: How did Studio Ghibli genius Hayao Miyazaki have to wait so long for an invitation, or Zero Dark Thirty producer Megan Ellison? There may be few names that stick out as much as Pharrell, except possibly fellow music-branch inductee Eddie Vedder, but some of the actors could catch you by surprise. Rob Riggle, currently starring as a penis-less inmate in 22 Jump Street, is now an Academy member, as is Barkhad Abdi, who has acted in only a single film, Captain Phillips. (Before you ask, no—an Oscar nomination does not guarantee a spot in the Academy. Jon Landau won an Oscar for producing Titanic 12 years before he was invited to join the group.

There are numerous lesser-known but thrilling names to see on the list, from standout indie directors Jay and Mark Duplass and David Gordon Green, to phenomenal up-and-coming cinematographer Bradford Young, to Robin Mathews, the Dallas Buyers Club makeup designer who won an Oscar on an astonishingly small budget. The full list of newly minted Academy members is available at Indiewire.